Jenas to become a Star?

MARTIN Jol believes Jermaine Jenas will soon be up there with Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard as one of England's midfield stars.

Jenas, who was finally unveiled as a Tottenham player this week and made his debut against Liverpool yesterday, allegedly told Newcastle boss Graeme Souness he was sick of living in Tyneside's 'goldfish bowl'.

The 7 million ($21m) midfielder denies making the remarks and says his move was because he wanted to benefit from Jol's Midas touch, which has put Paul Robinson, Ledley King, Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe into contention for places in England's World Cup squad.

Jol believes Jenas can join his new team-mates in the national team if he can match Gerrard for his goal-scoring record over the coming months.

The Dutchman said: 'Gerrard operates in the spaces on the left, on the right and dictates the midfield. I have often said before that he is the best midfielder in Europe.

'Jermaine is more of a right-sided midfield player. He is a box-to-box player. Gerrard is a player that goes into spaces. His timing is unbelievable. He gets a lot of chances. That is the kind of thing we have to work on with Jermaine. We would like him to get as many goals as Gerrard.

'It's very difficult to score from midfield. The only players who are doing that are Lampard and Gerrard. But Jenas is 22 and he is a big talent. He has all the qualities to be a top player. We will develop him like we have Defoe and Carrick.'

I prayed that you are right, Jol.

Another report....

DEBUTANTS' NIGHT

Lee, Rasiak shine, Crouch, Jenas flopFOUR debutants were on show in just one English Premiership game last night.

FOUR debutants were on show in just one English Premiership game last night.In the end, two impressed, one still left doubts while the last one was simply a tourist in London.

Tottenham Hotspur hosted Liverpool in England's capital, but came away with a 0-0 draw despite dominating the visiting Reds for most of the match.

The game's pre-match attraction lay in the two clubs' new signings. Spurs' high-profile acquisitions came in the form of South Korean World Cup leftback Lee Young Pyo and England international Jermaine Jenas.

Both cost Spurs 1.36 million ($4.1m) and 7m from PSV and Newcastle respectively. They also fielded Polish international striker Grzegorz Rasiak who came from Derby for 2m.

As for Liverpool - desperate to solve their striking woes - they fielded Peter Crouch, who came from Southampton for 7m before the season started.

But the best debutant last night was Lee. The 28-year-old leftback formed a promising combination with Dutch midfield dynamo Edgar Davids, who was surprisingly fielded as a left midfielder despite his preferred role in the centre.

In a move that instantly won over the Spurs home faithful, Lee showed how deft he is with both legs, as he fooled Liverpool's right-winger Luis Garcia and dragged the ball past him in the 28th minute.

Rightback Finnan was the next contender as Lee jinked left, right, then turned around as if to give up.But with a sweet stepover, he swivelled round and pushed the ball to the byeline, catching Finnan off-balance.

Fending off Finnan along the byeline, Lee's cross across the box was blocked by the onrushing Sami Hyypia. The next most impressive was Rasiak. Despite having the lowest profile in the build-up to last night's game, he almost came away with two goals to his name.

The first time, he was denied by the crossbar.In the 41st minute, Davids' free-kick was parried by Liverpool 'keeper Jose Reina and Rasiak's instinctive jumping header saw the ball come off the crossbar. Showing his aerial strength again in the 60th minute, he rose up well against John Arne Riise to send an unstoppable header into goal from a Michael Carrick corner. But the goal was disallowed, as the assistant referee had ruled that Carrick's outswinging corner-kick had briefly gone out of play before curling back in.

Which brings us to Crouch.Coincidentally - in the 69th minute - he had his own headed goal disallowed after Steven Gerrard's outswinging corner-kick was ruled to have gone out of play briefly, the same way Carrick's did earlier.Anyhow, to score, he still had to lean his 1.98m frame on Anthony Gardner.

Otherwise, he hardly figured in his Premiership start for Liverpool. If he wasn't getting caught offside, he had problems holding on to the ball whenever his team-mates passed the ball to him. His partnership with Djibril Cisse hardly sizzled, with the Frenchman more selfish with every chance he had.

Flop of the night was Jenas. He started for Spurs in the middle alongside Carrick, as Jol relegated Davids to the left flank to see what Jenas could do.

Praised for his box-to-box approach in play, and potential vision for through-passes, he mainly hovered around the centre circle like a mynah eyeing just the simple square pass. But it was clear that most of Spurs' attacks at Liverpool originated from the left flank with Lee and Davids, instead of through the centre.

As such, Liverpool quickly beefed up their right-sided defence of the field, figuring Jenas and Carrick were relative lightweights in the centre. It's early days yet, but when Spurs fans compare Lee's transfer fee to Jenas', they're likely to feel the pinch for now.